Home of the largest shoe collection in the world. We also tell the history of Northampton and have some very nice paintings! FREE ENTRY!

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Shoe of the Month-Hip Hop to the Beat

There is a dance theme in the museum this October with the Strictly Shoes exhibition highlighting the amazing shoes worn for ballroom and Latin American dance, but we also have many more examples of dance shoes in the collection from ballet to tap dancing to clogging and break dancing. We are always very keen to increase our dance shoe collection.

Break dancing, b-boying or breaking, emerged in New York in the 1970s as part of the hip-hop movement amongst young African-American and Latin American communities. Many of them were in street gangs and taught themselves martial arts as self-defence, from which many of the acrobatic and creative moves in break-dancing have developed.

Some of the most impressive break dancing involves floor-orientated moves, called ‘power moves’, such as the floor spins and flips.

adidas Superstar

How you looked was all-important. Outrageous outfits were combined with sneakers to create the iconic look. The hip hop movement had deep associations with sneakers from the very beginning. However, the one hip-hop band forever associated with a love for adidas sneakers is Run DMC. Run DMC had a long lasting effect on youth culture and made corporate brands more aware of the huge youth market for trainers. Run DMC were famous for wearing adidas Superstar or shell toe trainers and many followed their lead. This pair are from 1992.